The 2018 G3 Tour – featuring legendary guitarists Joe Satriani (Chickenfoot), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and special guests – is currently wrapping up with dates in Canada and the east coast. This past Sunday (Feb. 18th), the grand tour rolled through the Tri-state for a huge show at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

The assembly’s performance consisted of three sets, with Phil Collen kicking off the night with Billy Cobham‘s “Quadrant 4.” From there, the iconic musician performed a new song, the instrumental homage “Yo 2 Joe,” which he wrote as a tribute to John Petrucci. Accompanied by vocalist Debbi Blackwell-Cook and drummer Forrest Robinson, Phil revved up the action by dishing out a trio of Delta Deep tunes, specifically “Bless These Blues,” “Burnt Sally” and his set closer “Down in the Delta.” Prior to the last song, Collen pulled out “Mistreated” from rock masters Deep Purple.

Up next, John Petrucci, joined by fellow Dream Theater band member Mike Mangini on drums and Dave LaRue (ex-Dixie Dregs) on bass, kept the intensity intact with their own six-track set, performing rarely played before songs “Wrath of the Amazons,” “The Happy Song,” and “Glassy-Eyed Zombies.” John and gang also delivered tunes from Petrucci‘s 2005 solo album Suspended Animation, ripping through heavy hitters “Jaws of Life,” “Damage Control,” and “Glasgow Kiss.”

The man with the plan, Joe Satriani, closed out the spectacular evening with a mammoth fourteen-song, hour-long display. The guitar virtuoso shredded to new songs from his latest and sixteenth studio album, What Happens Next, captivating NJ with fresh anthems “Energy,” “Catbot,” “Cherry Blossoms,” “Thunder High,” and “Super Funky Badass.” Accompanied by guitarist/keyboardist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Joe Travers, Satriani rounded out his main set with select hits off his monumental albums Surfing With the Alien (1987) and The Extremist (1992), along with the well received Shockwave Supernova (2015), playing numbers like “Satch Boogie,” “Summer Song,” “Cataclysmic,” and more.

As for the event’s epic encore, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and Phil Collen teamed up for a final G3 jam, inviting rock giant Glenn Hughes to join them for the Deep Purple song “Highway Star.” The four rockstars then welcomed Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Debbi Blackwell-Cook for a rendition of Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition.” The glorious night concluded with everyone on-stage rocking out to The Alabama State Troupers‘ “Going Down.”

Check out extensive photo coverage from the Jersey show in the gallery below. The night’s setlist and all remaining G3 tour dates can be viewed at the end of this post.